Medusa’s favourite lake would no doubt be the one located in Northern Tanzania. A rare phenomenon caused by the chemical makeup of the lake petrifies creatures creating macabre but fascinating statues.

Nick Brandt’s new book, Across the Ravaged Land, features the images of petrified creatures that were found in areas around Lake Natron which due to its constant pH of 9 to 10.5 (an extremely basic alkalinity ) preserves these creatures for eternity.

“I unexpectedly found the creatures – all manner of birds and bats – washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death.” – Nick Brandt